Dish Network has been offering satellite broadband in certain parts the United States through a partnership with a company called ViaSat. Reports are coming in that Dish Network is preparing to launch a nationwide satellite broadband network. The broadband network would use a satellite from Dish Network sister company EchoStar according to people familiar with the situation.

The specific satellite Dish Network is tipped to use for the nationwide broadband network is called EchoStar 17 and launched on July 5. That particular satellite is able support download speeds of 15 Mbps. Sources indicate that initially packages are expected to offer downloads of 5 Mbps to allow the system to take more capacity.

Sources claiming knowledge of Dish Network’s plan say that Dish and EchoStar will be able to handle about 2 million new Internet customers with the new broadband offering. The service is expected to launch in late that September or early October and will cater mainly to rural America. Dish Network’s deal with ViaSat is only available in areas east of the Mississippi River and on the West Coast. The new satellite broadband service will augment Dish Network’s existing partnership giving it nationwide coverage.

[via Bloomberg]

The company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. As of February 29 of 2012, the company had $4.48 billion in assets and $2.29 billion in debt. As it became clear that the FCC was not going to approve the network, LightSquared started to lose backers and carriers. Despite bankruptcy, Falcone and the current management team will remain with the company according to a company spokesman.

LightSquared is still intent on launching the wireless 4G network. Falcone described bankruptcy filing as “necessary” to protect the company from creditors looking for a “quick profit.” The company was granted a second extension last week giving it an additional seven days to pay creditors. LightSquared’s Canadian and Bermudan affiliates also filed for bankruptcy.

[via Bloomberg]

Gogo will acquire new 1 MHz spectrum license that is held by LiveTV currently. The new spectrum will be used to supplement the company’s existing 3 MHz license and will enhance its air to ground network. LiveTV and Gogo have reached agreement on acquisition, but the deal still needs FCC approval and is undergoing review right now.

If granted FCC approval, the acquisition will close later this year. Along with the 1 MHz license, Gogo will also acquire all the network infrastructure and back-office operational assets of Airfone. Gogo plans to continue operating Airfone if the acquisition goes through.

“In many ways, Gogo has continued to expand its Air-to-Ground network and will soon launch ATG-4, which is expected to significantly improve capacity,” said Gogo’s president and CEO Michael Small. “Acquiring the 1 MHz spectrum license from LiveTV will play an integral role in our continued expansion activities and help us deliver a performance boost for end users.”

It was determined that LightSquared posed serious interference with most GPS devices and things went downhill quickly. Falcone has now admitted that he is seriously considering filing for voluntary bankruptcy for the company. Falcone’s hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners is the majority partner in LightSquared.

The company seems dead at this point after missing payments to creditors and having no obvious path forward. Falcone says bankruptcy gives the company time to find a way to address the GPS interference issues that have crippled it. He also says that even if he filed bankruptcy, investors wouldn’t necessarily lose everything invested in the company because the spectrum LightSquared holds is worth money.

[via Reuters]

The company called the layoffs a “prudent and necessary” measure to save money. This week LightSquared missed a payment on a $56 million loan to a British company that operates satellites called in Inmarsat. Last week the FCC revoked permission granted LightSquared to move ahead with wireless network plans. The problem with LightSquared’s plan is that the FCC found the service interfered with a significant amount of GPS devices on the market today.

Philip Falcone is backing LightSquared with a huge chunk of the assets from the hedge fund he manages. Reuters reports that Falcone has invested more than 60% of the $4 billion in assets Harbinger Capital Partners owns. If LightSquared completely fails, things won’t be good for Falcone.

[via

Right now, Clearwire is expecting to have 5000 TD-LTE sites up and running by June of 2013. The news comes directly from Clearwire CEO Erik Prusch during a conference call to announce the Q4 earnings for the company. The CEO also stated that not too long after those first 5000 TD-LTE sites go live, the coverage will be expanded 8000 sites.

Prusch also added that the TD-LTE network Clearwire rolls out would not be focused on the population covered as much as its WiMAX networks are. Instead, the TD-LTE networks will focus on the amount of data traffic that can be transmitted across the network. This could be an indication that the goal is to generate wholesale revenue by selling bandwidth to carriers in the TD-LTE areas.

[via Fiercewireless]